Our Lips Bleed what our Hearts Ponder

Sometime ago I spent some time meditating on Proverbs 22:17-19 which says, "Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you."

Solomon is urging us to seek the wisdom of God as if it were treasure--which it is--and then to discipline ourselves to put that wisdom into practice. Therefore, he counsels us to keep wisdom within us so that it's always ready on our lips. In other words, he thinks we should memorize portions of the Bible, in this case Proverbs, so that we'll be ready to apply what we've memorized in real-life situations.

Why? Simply because our lips bleed what our hearts ponder. Think about this. Pay attention to the movies and TV shows you watch, the web-surfing you do, the radio stations you listen to, the MP3s you listen to, the conversations you have, the things you read, and then notice how the things that influence you most are the quickest to leap off your lips as you face various situations.

It is a law: our lips bleed what our hearts ponder. As Jesus said, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). Therefore, Solomon is urging us to ponder the wisdom of God that it might leap off our lips and be applied to various situations, and he promises us that when we do this "it will be pleasant" for us.

That word "pleasant" means "delightful or sweet sounding," so when the wisdom of God is applied to our lives the end result is joy in life, true and lasting joy, the kind of joy that makes you want to sing! It may take some suffering to get to the singing, but the singing will come if we will only listen, ponder, and apply the wisdom of God.

May the wisdom of God affect our heart and pour forth from our lips that we may know His lasting joy.

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